Bad : Cop Being Sued for Shooting Gun Pointing Suspect

This is a discussion on Bad : Cop Being Sued for Shooting Gun Pointing Suspect within the In the News: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly forums, part of the The Back Porch category; This is a bit long, sorry for it, but this just reeks bad. There was a shoot out at a local bar back in November ...

Bad : Cop Being Sued for Shooting Gun Pointing Suspect

This is a bit long, sorry for it, but this just reeks bad. There was a shoot out at a local bar back in November 2009. Police responded, not knowing what was going on with the gunfire. Mr. Porter who was described by family after the fatal shooting as a "good family man, father, son, brother and wouldn't ever do anything like this, yada, yada, yada...." If so, then why did they find a lengthy criminal record and if he was such a good father, then why wasn't he home with family instead of in a bar with a pistol?

Unfortunately, it seems to be racially motivated. Mr. Porter being black was killed by a white Police Officer and even after the shooting, the local NAACP and some activists actually picketed the Huntington Police Dept. in protest.

HUNTINGTON -- Those administering the estate of a man killed by a police officer have filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city of Huntington and its Police Patrolman Ronnie Lusk.

The patrolman fatally wounded Joe Porter as he and fellow officers responded to an exchange of gunfire Nov. 8, 2009, that injured three others outside of Club Babylon, then located at 831 4th Ave.

The lawsuit alleges the Huntington Police Department "has had a custom or policy, to use unnecessary and/or excessive force." It further alleges that police intimidated witnesses and made false statements in a "cover-up" of events leading to Porter's death.

Huntington Police Chief Skip Holbrook, in responding to the filing, relied upon his department's investigation and last month's grand jury decision to exonerate Lusk.

"I'm certain there is no wrongdoing on the city's part," Holbrook said. "When we do things the right way, follow policy and procedure and the law, we will absolutely defend our self."

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court. Its allegations and the police investigation stand at odds.

The lawsuit alleges that Lusk turned his weapon on Porter without provocation and for no apparent reason.

The police investigation, as stated at a press conference last month, found that Lusk justifiably fired in response to Porter pointing a .45 caliber handgun toward the patrolman. It also found that officers recovered a gun believed to have belonged to Porter at the scene.

The lawsuit charges police failed to seek timely medical treatment. It alleges Lusk shot Porter and then ran out of the bar. Other officers then handcuffed Porter's bleeding body after it had slumped to the floor, the lawsuit states.

"After which, he was left bleeding on the floor while defendant Lusk and/or other officers ... restrained, threatened and/or intimidated witnesses," the lawsuit states.

Holbrook said at last month's press conference that his officers could not say with certainty that Porter had been hit and incapacitated until they turned him over. He said they handcuffed Porter as a precaution so others would know he had been eliminated as a threat.

Additionally, the Police Department has said an ambulance crew arrived at the bar at 3:14 a.m., 8 minutes and 27 minutes following the 3:06 a.m. initial report. The ambulance arrived at the hospital at 3:33 a.m.

The administrators' attorney, Patrick S. Cassidy of Wheeling, W.Va., described the shooting as one event in a larger atmosphere of city police using excessive force and providing uncritical support to those who engage in such conduct.

Furthermore, it alleges deliberate indifference to training, supervision, discipline and hiring, along with an indifferent failure to adopt policies necessary to prevent constitutional violations. It charges those issues were the "moving force" that allowed for Porter's death.

A response on the defendants' behalf had not been filed as of Wednesday.

Lusk returned to full duty work 16 days after the shooting. Last month, Holbrook described Lusk as an "outstanding police officer who has received several commendations for his actions in the line of duty."

The case is Hackett and Radford v. Lusk and city of Huntington, 3:10-cv-781.

sounds like Joe was a loser and an alcoholic. What's upsetting is his family and the NAACP exploiting his death for money. I guess they figure since he couldnt provide a decent living in life, maybe they can get it with his death.

But what else can be expected from those people who only know life as a survival rather than success.

I hate how anytime there is a confrontation that happens to be between black and white people, the NAACP cries "racism!". They really need to wake up and realize it's not the 1960s anymore. Or maybe it's just that they get off to playing the victim which they seem to love doing.

I hate how anytime there is a confrontation that happens to be between black and white people, the NAACP cries "racism!". They really need to wake up and realize it's not the 1960s anymore. Or maybe it's just that they get off to playing the victim which they seem to love doing.

^^^^^^^^This is how they perpetuate their existense^^^^^^^

It is sad when , if the facts play out that the police were NOT negligent of any wrongdoing, people cannot accept that, and come to the realization that their innocent, saintly, relative, maybe, juust maybe, was doing something wrong
It really irks me to no end.

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Is it against the law to have guns inside West Virginia bars, concealed or not? Had that .45 been fired? Where at? Bullets recovered and IDed with guns? And...for the sake of diversity, they want to or might hire functional illiterate cops who might have to read and write and be polite with those mean folks they fight, not hiring the best who take and actually pass those mean old prejudiced tests.

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sounds like Joe was a loser and an alcoholic. What's upsetting is his family and the NAACP exploiting his death for money. I guess they figure since he couldnt provide a decent living in life, maybe they can get it with his death.

But what else can be expected from those people who only know life as a survival rather than success.